Notting Hill carnival tribute to Grenfell victims

A street singer performs at the Notting Hill Carnival in London, UK on August 27, 2017. [Screenshot: AP]

A tribute in memory of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire in west London in June has been held at the Notting Hill Carnival.

The performance was held on Sunday and saw thousands of people in attendance at the annual event.

Festival-goers observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims of the fatal fire that occurred in the Tower on 14 June.

(Source AP)

According to Yvette Williams with the Justice for Grenfell Campaign, people attending the carnival were encouraged to wear green.

"Keeping Grenfell central to that (the carnival) this year is really key. We're all out in green, saying, you know, it's a terrible disaster in the community, you know, our strive for justice is that, you know, down the line, justice looks very different to make people but whether it's criminal prosecutions, whether it's compensation, whether it's changing the whole face of how people in social housing are treating up and down the country, so there's still a struggle as part of that justice and so carnival is the best place to have it."

Eighty people are dead or missing from the fire that stuck the residential high-rise block.

A visitor at the festival said the performance helped ease the pain.

"What I've noticed is a sense of real community, embracing of the carnival, broader than just the carnival artists and the carnival mass and the carnival bands. There's an embrace by the community to make carnival a thing for the community, a healing and a way of showing solidarity with Grenfell and it's really lovely to see like a more community emphasis again."

Launched in 1964, the Notting Hill Carnival is billed as Europe's largest street festival.

This year's festival will last three days, ending on Monday. It is expected to attract over two-million people.